SAN DIEGO COUNTY DIGEST

Del Mar

Del Mar Fair Board directors announced Thursday that they have raised wages for workers at the Del Mar Fair by an average of about 4% over last year.

The increase, which adds 25-cent and 50-cent-an-hour increases in some job categories, was in response to labor union protests to the low wages of some 350 temporary workers during the county fair, which begins June 20.

Nine unions that held most of the fair jobs for 40 years until the fair officials lowered wages and hired non-union workers last year will send representatives to a Monday meeting to decide whether to resume the boycott and picketing started at last year's fair.

Joe Francis, head of the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council, said Thursday that the council will meet Wednesday to review the union boycott committee's recommendation.

Wages for workers at the fair range from $18 an hour for electricians to $5.50 an hour for groundskeepers--the same salaries paid during 1984. Union representatives estimate that before last year's pay cuts, workers were earning an average of $4 to $6 more an hour than now and were receiving fringe benefits.